Dulce et Decorum Est Flashcards
Who is the author of the poem?
Wilfred Owen
Summarise the poem
- Describes the suffering of exhausted soldiers, which he is one of, as they march away from battle back to their rest camp
- Suddenly, there is a gas attack in which one of the soldiers dies
- The persona recounts that in all of his dreams, he still sees the man’s face plunging towards him
State the themes of the poem
War
Trauma
Conflict
Brutality and pointlessness of war
Attitudes towards war in the modern day
What is the translation of
‘dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori’
It is sweet and honourable to die for your country
Describe the form in DEDE and its impact
- Some regular and irregular features
- Regular ABAB rhyme scheme reflects relentless trudge of soldiers as they return to their rest camp + their suffering
- Stanzas at irregular lengths
- Iambic pentameter falters at times
What can we imply from the faltering iambic pentameter?
→ Perhaps showing the unpredictability of war or the soldier’s exhaustion
→ can seem disjointed, fragmented and confusing, like war
Describe the structure of DEDE and its impact on the poem
- Written in the first person + autobiographical
- Starts with a past tense description of the soldiers’ trudge and develops to the panic of the gas attack
- Flashes forward to the present and the horrific dreams the persona has of the incident
- Ends with a graphic description of the soldier’s death + questions integrity of those who spread the old lie to the young
- Tone changes from lethargic at the beginning, to urgent towards the middle (gas attack) and ends with being angry and confrontational with the readers at the end
Describe the language of DEDE and its impact on the poem
- Similes used extensively to describe the condition of the soldiers and the experience of the gas attack
- Graphically violent imagery to describe the soldier’s hideous death, including powerful adjectives and verbs to convey the brutal, shocking reality of war
- Direct address challenges the reader, authorities and other poets to consider the falsehood they pedal to the youth of britain
- Devices such as onomatopoeia, assonance and alliteration used, impacting the reader strongly } language translates the horrors of war
- Present participles makes the reader feel as if he is reliving that moment constantly
What is the context behind the author?
- Decorated soldier who served in the first world war
- Experienced horror and depravity of war first hand + felt it his duty to ‘tell others the truth’
- He experienced a shell attack and suffered from severe shell shock (sent to war hospital to recover)
Complete the quote
‘Bent double…
…like old beggars’
Analyse the quote
‘Bent double, like old beggars’
→ similes present idea of premature ageing, claiming that war causes soldiers to age
→ men are unhealthy and malnourished; negative effects of war
Complete the quote
‘Gas shells dropping..
…softly behind’
Analyse the quote
‘Gas shells dropping softly behind’
→ oxymoronic language
→ ‘softly’ almost seems comforting, they have become desensitised
→ can’t comprehend what is happening
→ they are so tired and the war is so damaging that the idea of dying becomes comforting to the soldiers
Complete the quote
‘Gas…
…GAS’
Analyse the quote
‘Gas, GAS’
→ capitals on second use jolts the reader awake, breaks the slow pace of previous stanza
→ tension is broken, pace quickens, as if the reader is there with them
→ shows panic and urgency
→ stresses the unpredictable nature of war
